The Alberta Energy Regulator confirms oil production has been reduced because of the disruption

The Suncor mine facility along the Athabasca river, as seen from a helicopter tour of the oil sands near Fort McMurray. (Jeff McIntosh)

Suncor Energy's base plant near Fort McMurray has stopped production after a release of pond water effluent and power loss triggered a disruption in operations.

Suncor said it is responding to what it calls a "process upset" that occurred Wednesday afternoon at its base plant near Fort McMurray.

In an email, company spokesperson Erin Rees described a process upset as "a temporary disruption to normal operations."

The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) confirmed a release of pond water effluent and a power loss took place at the plant. Pond water effluent is water from oil sands mining that's recirculated from a tailings pond, AER said.

In addition to confirming there were no injuries, the AER said that as of noon Thursday wildlife had not been affected and containment measures were in place.

The AER said Suncor shut down production and started additional flaring, or controlled burning of natural gas, to manage the incident.